Makeover Your Fridge Using these Hip Cleaning and Arrangement Ideas

Have you ever opened your fridge door and noticed how unorganized and chaotic your refrigerator happens to be? If you’ve taken a closer look you may have noticed the spills, crumbs, and unorganized food clutter that seems to have accumulated over time. Old food hides in the back behind other food, the crisper has pieces of old vegetables in it, and there’s food on every shelf as well as in every corner. It’s time to clean, revamp, and reorganize your fridge so you find out what you’ve got. An organized and clean fridge can save you both time and money.

Makeover Your Fridge Using these Hip Cleaning and Arrangement Ideas

1. Pull Everything Out
The first trick to cleaning the fridge would be to pull everything out. Although this could seem tedious and time-consuming, it’s going to allow you to see everything you have and also to wipe out the fridge without too much work. Presort the food by trying to put similar kinds of foods together like sauces, produce, drinks, and produce. Throw anything old or expired away.

2. Wipe Every Surface Down

Use a spray cleaner and paper towels to wipe all shelves and drawers. You may need a wet and soapy scrubbing sponge to scrub at any sticky and difficult spills. Start by cleaning the top shelves so that anything you wipe off will get pushed onto lower shelves, which will get cleaned next. Make sure to clean every one of the door shelves too, where condiments like jelly, butter, and salad dressing have a tendency to leak. When everything has been pushed down off the shelves, pull out the produce drawers as well as any other drawers and wash them in the kitchen sink. While the drawers are drying, wipe the bottom inside of the fridge out, from back to front, along with the sides, too. Place the drawers back when they’re dry.

3. Get Plastic Bowls and Baskets

An organized and clean fridge filled with food.

Purchase a few organizing bowls and baskets, which can be found at the dollar store, online, as well as in most home stores. Plastic is the most suitable because it can be washed and wiped at any time and then reused. Make sure the bowls or baskets are short enough to fit on the shelves and that they’re clear or made so you can see what’s inside. These may be used to sort foods later on.

4. Create Sections for Different Food Types

Even though the easiest thing to do is just pile your food randomly into the fridge, when you start to put things back, you’ll want to have designated “sections” for different food types. For instance, all vegetables may go into the drawers at the bottom in order to stay the most fresh. Meats and cheeses might go in another drawer in the fridge. Place all of the dressings together on the fridge door, and the condiments in a group. Make a section just for the drinks. The organizing bowls can be used to hold a variety of different food items, as long as they’re sorted and easily accessible. Examples of food sorted and placed together might be refrigerated fruits, butter and eggs, fresh bread and rolls, or fresh meats like chicken and beef. Play around with where sections and organizing containers will go based on the height and size of the containers. Label them if you’d like. The options are endless.

5. Put Everything in its New, Clean Place

If any bottles and containers have leaked and have dried food on them, you’ll want to wipe them off with a wet paper towel before placing them back inside your nice, clean fridge. Seeing that your sections for everything are actually designated, food will be much easier to find and could be used before it expires. The trick will be to keep things sorted and make sure anyone living with you knows the new system and sticks to it. While it takes a little bit of initial elbow grease and planning, it can save plenty of time and money in the long run.

These tips can also be used when you are getting ready to sell your home. Nick & Cindy Davis with RE/MAX Premier Group have assisted hundreds of our clients sell their home and get their home ready to show. You will be surprised to know that buyers may open your fridge to look inside. If you need assistance in selling your home we are ready to assist you. We are always just a click here or call to 813-300-7116 away.

Here are just a few of the most recent home sales in Tampa

See all Real estate matching your search.
(all data current as of 7/26/2025)

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.